Reflexive verbs

Reflexive verbs

Observe this sentence:Ik vraag me af wat hij doet (I wonder what he does).
In the form above, there is one sentence that contains a reflexive verb: the infinitive here, is zich afvragen (to wonder): if the dictionary states that zich (‘oneself’) belongs to a verb it means it’s a reflexive one. This is a kind of verb that requires the subject to be an object too. In English, you can do this with some verbs (I’m washing myself, I find myself …, I’m exerting myself), but in Dutch you have to do this to quite a lot of verbs.
A few examples:

zich herinneren – to remember

zich schamen – to be ashame

zich vergissen – to be mistaken

zich verheugen op – to look forward to

zich voorstellen – to imagine

Some other verbs can be reflexive: they require an object and this could be the subject. Examples: